Film review: Belfast
Kenneth Branagh’s touching film about a boy’s life in the Troubles in Northern Ireland
Sean Penn’s last film as a director “pretty much got him booed off the red carpet” at Cannes, but on the basis of Flag Day, in which he also stars, he has clearly “still got it”, said Peter Bradshaw in The Guardian. In this “very watchable and well-made family drama”, he plays the real-life swindler John Vogel, who was pursued by the FBI in the 1990s for forging $100 bills on an industrial scale. Penn exudes a “buzzard-like watchfulness” as the sociopathic Vogel; his “seductive address to the camera is almost unrivalled”. As a director, too, “he knows how to bring the horsepower”. The film is based on a memoir by Vogel’s daughter, Jennifer (played by Dylan Penn, Sean Penn’s daughter with Robin Wright), a journalist who must come to terms with her father’s ceaseless lies. “There are some pretty broad emotional strokes here”, but the film made “with some style”.
Penn certainly “makes the utmost” of his “craggily dissolute features”, said Brian Viner in the Daily Mail, but I found him “show-offy”, and the film heavy-handed. Jennifer, who is at the centre of the story, becomes “wincingly over-lyrical in narrating the account of her blighted childhood”; and a subplot about her path into journalism also fails to thrill. The screenplay is by the normally reliable Butterworth brothers, Jez and John-Henry; still, it’s “not a bad film”, with its echoes of Paper Moon (1973) and foot-tapping soundtrack. While there’s a frisson to the familial casting, said Alistair Harkness in The Scotsman – Penn’s son is also in the film – it doesn’t quite make up for the sometimes “hackneyed way the story” plays out. The “Terrence Malick-style camera work” and “ornate voice-over”, meanwhile, seem designed to make the film “seem more profound” than it is.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
![https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516-320-80.jpg)
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
Charlotte Dujardin and equestrianism's dark side
In the Spotlight Olympic gold medallist and dressage star's suspension over horse whipping brings abuse in horse sports back into the spotlight
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
Why Roman epic Those About to Die has split the critics
Talking Point Sword and sandals miniseries starring Anthony Hopkins puts spectacle above story
By Irenie Forshaw, The Week UK Published
-
Why is China stockpiling resources?
The Explainer The superpower has been amassing huge reserves of commodities at great cost despite its economic downturn
By Richard Windsor, The Week UK Published
-
6 coastal homes in Cape Cod
Feature Featuring a wall of glass in Mashpee and an undulating roofline in Wellfleet
By The Week Staff Published
-
Peng Shepherd's 6 favorite works with themes of magical realism
Feature The author recommends works by Susanna Clarke, George Saunders, and more
By The Week US Published
-
Francis Alÿs: Ricochets – a 'heart-stopping' exhibition at London's Barbican
The Week Recommends 'Mesmerising' films of children at play around the world from Kharkiv to Mosul
By The Week UK Published
-
Mishal Husain: BBC journalist shares her six favourite books
The Week Recommends Newsreader and Radio 4 presenter picks works by Louisa May Alcott, Jamil Ahmad and more
By The Week UK Published
-
Eno: 'stimulating and cerebral' documentary that's never the same twice
The Week Recommends A 'fascinating' look at the mercurial British musician and activist Brian Eno
By The Week UK Published
-
Longlegs: 'nerve-jangling and devilishly bleak' horror film
The Week Recommends Nicolas Cage gives perhaps the most 'terrifying' performance of his career as the titular serial killer
By The Week UK Published
-
The CIA by Hugh Wilford: 'lively and original' history of America's spy agency
The Week Recommends The book has been dubbed a 'must-read' for those interested in intelligence and national-security affairs
By The Week UK Published
-
Laura van den Berg's 6 favorite books with hidden secrets
Feature The author recommends works by Patricia Lockwood, Gillian Flynn, and more
By The Week US Published